Jodi Parrack investigation, part 4: Speculation, but little certainty

Two women were reporting for the work when they were stunned by a woman's tormented screams, coming from the cemetery several hundred yards away.

By Kathy JessupJournal Correspondent

Two women were reporting for the third shift at Vaupell Midwest Molding on Florence Road when they were stunned by a woman’s tormented screams, coming from the cemetery several hundred yards away. A mother had just found her 11-year-old daughter dead, lying among the headstones.If you count the hundreds of DNA samples that have eliminated suspects from the pool of Jodi Parrack’s possible murderers, investigators have advanced the case since the day of her death on Nov. 8, 2007.More than six years later, male DNA found on the child’s body that night remains a taunt as well as a solution to the question: Who killed Jodi Christine Parrack?One theory suggests a former Constantine reserve police officer knows who committed the crime, but did not do it himself. Another posits the young girl, who died of suffocation by strangulation, could have succumbed in an accidental erotic asphyxiation. A third scenario speculates she was caught up in child sex trafficking that brought an unknown man to the village, and things went horribly wrong. With each theory, there is speculation, but no defining evidence — only male DNA that has not found a match in hundreds of tests. So a modicum of closure eludes those who grieve for Jodi.So far, only one arrest has been made, a perjury charge against Raymond McCann II, a family friend and former reserve police officer. He is awaiting a preliminary examination on charges that he lied and gave inconsistent statements under oath when questioned about his involvement in the search the night Jodi went missing.McCann’s attorney, James Mequio of Portage, says his client has no prior criminal record and does not match the DNA evidence. Mequio argues it’s likely McCann’s recollections may have become cloudy with the passage of time and he questions whether prosecutors have sufficient probable cause to charge his client with perjury. “My client has been nothing but cooperative with the investigation and he’s maintained all along that he had nothing to do with her murder,” Mequio says. “All we’ve been told is that he’s a person of interest. The perjury complaint is very vague. If I was going to be cynical, I might think the prosecutor was putting something out there to have my client arrested and hope something will break lose.”Police personnel records show McCann, 46, served a year and a half as an unpaid White Pigeon reserve police officer beginning in 1998, applying just two days after he received his GED high school diploma-equivalent. His primary job was working at an Indiana manufactured home plant.“As long as he was here, we didn’t have any problems with him,” recalls White Pigeon Chief Lynn Baker. Bob Wolgamood, 90, a former White Pigeon police commissioner and elected official, was listed as a personal reference on both McCann’s applications for reserve positions. “I can’t say anything bad and I can’t say anything good. The only reason I know of him was his being on the department and pretty positive,” Wolgamood said. “I thought of him as kind of a drifter.” McCann later took personal leave from White Pigeon, citing his father’s health and working two jobs. He applied to join the Constantine reserves in April 2007, and completed his reserve academy final exam on Aug. 10, 2007.In an Oct. 26, 2007 “routine review,” McCann’s reserve sergeant said he had “shown great growth in all aspects of the duties while on the job .... Any and all officers he has rode with (sic) claim that there have been no problems at all ... he is doing a fine job.”Thirteen days later, Jodi Parrack was dead and McCann was placed on administrative leave “until further notice.”A source with knowledge of the case, who requested anonymity, suggests Jodi could have become involved in youthful experimentation with erotic asphyxiation, a practice of restricting oxygen intake to heighten sexual pleasure. At least one Constantine-area teenager has died during that practice in recent years.Police have collected some DNA samples from Jodi’s friends and classmates, but no match has been made with the sample of male DNA recovered from her body. Vicki Vanas, a forensic interviewer and therapist at the Children’s Advocacy Center in Kalamazoo, said sex trafficking is more common with young girls. They may be profiled by “groomers” who blackmail, threaten or manipulate them to participate in sex.Vanas is not suggesting that is what happened to Jodi Parrack. But she warns parents that even small towns and affluent neighborhoods are not immune from sex trafficking. “It’s everywhere and people are often totally unaware,” Vanas explained. “We have cases here where we suspect children may be involved, but the kids are not forthcoming. You see the Stockholm Syndrome where the child becomes attached to this person; a part of them loves that person.”Federal statistics say the average age of the 100,000 to 300,000 U.S. children at risk for sexual exploitation is between 11 and 14. In three of four cases in which sex is solicited with underage girls, the transaction begins on the Internet. Even if the Parrack case does not involved sexual exploitation, Vanas said it could provide a teachable moment.“I hope that the community uses this as an opportunity to educate their children and be more hyper-vigilant. Just because this is a sweet little town doesn’t mean that bad things can’t happen. We want children to know that if something is happening to them it’s not their fault. We want to help them be safe.”People who grieve for the young girl continue to wait for a break in the case. They say they’re thankful for the commitment retiring Constantine Police Chief Jim Bedell and the Michigan State Police cold case team have made toward solving the case.Jo Gilson, Jodi’s mother, is returning to St. Joseph County from her home in Hammond, Ind., in anticipation of McCann’s preliminary exam, now scheduled for May 29. Jodi’s friends avoid press contacts about their childhood friend. Katie Shepherd was a year ahead of Jodi in school and their mothers were friends.“She was always happy and if there was a baby in the room, she wanted to hold it,” Shepherd said. “She loved to sing and dance and she was always ready for adventure. She made friends, not in a desperate way, but because she was just so kind to everyone.“The bike she was riding that day wasn’t hers. I don’t think she had a bike. It’s an odd coincidence she was riding it that day, it really is.”